The Greatest Books of All Time on Transformation

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
66 The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
95 Orlando Virginia Woolf 1928 British English
171 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1927 German German
175 Metamorphoses Ovid 8 Roman Latin
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
218 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
225 Fairy Tales and Stories Hans Christian Andersen 1835 Danish Danish
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
286 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
306 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
367 Journey to the West Wu Cheng'en 1592 Chinese Chinese
373 The Duino Elegies Rainer Maria Rilke 1923 German German
389 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1988 Brazilian Portuguese
512 The Golden Ass Apuleius 158 Roman Latin
532 The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector 1964 Brazilian Portuguese
534 Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie 1988 British English
547 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
628 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
684 The Adventures Of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 Italian Italian
727 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
761 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
769 A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay 1920 Scottish English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
859 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutola 1952 Nigerian English
860 The Solitudes Luis de Góngora 1613 Spanish Spanish
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
991 Macunaíma Mario de Andrade 1928 Brazilian Portuguese
1072 Gösta Berling's Saga Selma Lagerlöf 1891 Swedish Swedish
1108 Chaka Thomas Mofolo 1925 South African Sesotho
1169 The History of Mr. Polly H. G. Wells 1910 British English
1250 The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Selma Lagerlöf 1906 Swedish Swedish
1290 Lilith George MacDonald 1895 Scottish English
1300 The Guide R. K. Narayan 1958 Indian English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1370 The House Of Souls Arthur Machen 1906 British English
1380 The Sword in the Stone T. H. White 1938 British English
1383 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
1405 The Twits Roald Dahl 1980 British English
1424 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1501 The Magician of Lublin Isaac Bashevis Singer 1960 Polish Yiddish
1530 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1537 The Owl Service Alan Garner 1967 British English
1595 The Forbidden Kingdom Jan Jacob Slauerhoff 1932 Dutch Dutch
1661 A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare 1595 British English
1681 The Teachings Of Don Juan Carlos Castaneda 1968 American English
1684 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1687 The Hearing Trumpet Leonora Carrington 1974 British English
1703 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
1712 The Great God Pan Arthur Machen 1894 British English
1757 Books of Blood Clive Barker 1984 British English
1761 Lady into Fox David Garnett 1922 British English
1775 Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke 1953 British English
1793 The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle 1968 American English
1821 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle 1969 American English
1833 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1848 Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 1948 American English
1853 The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams 1922 British English
1931 The Witches Roald Dahl 1983 British English
1938 The Marble Faun Nathaniel Hawthorne 1860 American English
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2059 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
2061 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
2086 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
2102 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
2141 Mythago Wood Robert Holdstock 1984 British English
2150 The Conference Of The Birds Attar Neyshabouri 1177 Persian Persian
2163 A Personal Matter Kenzaburō Ōe 1964 Japanese Japanese
2171 Italian Folktales Italo Calvino 1956 Italian Italian
2191 The Witches Of Eastwick John Updike 1984 American English
2241 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
2262 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
2277 The Twelve Alexander Blok 1918 Russian Russian
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2318 The Sacred Night Tahar Ben Jelloun 1987 Moroccan French
2331 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
2348 Bulfinch's Mythology Thomas Bulfinch 1855 British English
2353 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie 2000 Chinese French
2365 Little Big Man Thomas Berger 1964 American English
2371 The Man Who Planted Trees Jean Giono 1953 French French
2399 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2413 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956 American English
2414 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2431 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2543 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2581 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2624 The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell 1949 American English
2651 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2656 Ariel Sylvia Plath 1965 American English
2739 Dark Night of the Soul St. John of the Cross 1578 Spanish Spanish
2784 Märchenalmanach Auf Das Jahr 1828 Wilhelm Hauff 1827 German German
2840 The Magician's Nephew C. S. Lewis 1955 British English
2891 Silverlock John Myers Myers 1949 American English
2910 The Odyssey Nikos Kazantzakis 1938 Greek Greek
2923 The Castle Of Iron L. Sprague de Camp 1950 American English
2930 The Compleat Werewolf And Other Stories Of Fantasy And Science Fiction Anthony Boucher 1969 American English
2979 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English
3044 Three Hearts And Three Lions Poul Anderson 1953 American English
3085 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3140 The Shrinking Man Richard Matheson 1956 American English
3150 The Complete Poems Of San Juan De La Cruz San Juan de la Cruz 1618 Spanish Spanish
3211 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3227 Phantastes George McDonald 1858 British English
3231 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3323 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
3323 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
3370 Fable Of Polyphemus And Galatea Luis de Góngora 1627 Spanish Spanish
3372 The Green Child Herbert Read 1935 British English
3460 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3477 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3491 The Claw Of The Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981 American English
3514 Rhinoceros and Other Plays Eugène Ionesco 1959 Romanian French
3542 The Dragon And The George Gordon R. Dickson 1976 American English
3551 The Cloven Viscount Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
3634 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
3637 Mr. Fortune's Maggot Sylvia Townsend Warner 1927 British English